an emotional scene in parkland, florida. students and parents return for orientation after a deadly shooting and local authorities are facing criticism for not doing enough to prevent the tragedy. plus, growing questions about why some, including president trump's most trusted advisers including son-in-law jared kushner are still without security clearance. and fallout after cpac, why one facing backlash is saying in a new op-ed she's glad she got booed. good morning, everyone.

it's monday, february 26th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside louis burgdorf. students at margie stoneman douglas high school expected to return to class as early as wednesday following the deadly shooting that took place there less than two weeks ago. an orientation was held yesterday where students and parents returned to the school for the first time since the attack that killed 17 students and staff members. the fbi and local authorities now facing more criticism in the wake of that attack. according to the "new york times," less than six weeks before the shooting, a woman who knew the gunman said on the fbi's tip line, i know he's going to explode. mean wile, the brawl ard county sheriff's office is investigating why three of its deputies apparently remained outside the school during the shooting. the news came days after another deputy, scott peterson, resigned following reports that he, too, had not gone inside the school to confront the shooter. the broward county sheriff scott

israel said the actions of the deputies are under investigation. he said he would not resign despite the criticism the agency has been facing. >> are you really not taking any responsibility for the multiple red flags that were brought to the attention about the broward's sheriff office about this shooter before the incident snch. >> i've given amazing leadership to this agency. >> amazing leadership? >> yes, jake. >> republicans say lawmakers in florida are calling for the suspension of sheriff israel, a democrat accusing him of incompetence and neglect of duty. joining us now live from parkland, florida, nbc news correspondent tammy lightner. it's good to have you with us. marjorie doug the lan stoneman high school reopened yesterday to students and parents for the orientation, but it comes a day that was quite emotional because

of the new information we are learning about what authorities could have done. what was the dynamic that played out yesterday on these two fronts? the students returned and the criticism and the finger pointing taking place. >> good morning, ayman. thousands of students and their parents returning to the school for the very first time where 17 people were killed. a lot of the students, they were hugging, they were crying, they were meeting up outside and walking in together, offering each other support, you know. many of these students, they had left all of their belongings behind when the stooth happened, their book bags, their laptops, so they were walking back into the school getting their belongings for the first time, walking into the school and reliving everything, going through those moments. that's a tough thing. there were grief counselors there on hand to guide the parents and the students through this really, really tough time,

emotional support dogs there were on hand and there were also people showing up at the school that were not parents, that were not students, just people in the community wanting to offer their support. also keep in mind that the freshman building will be torn down. that's where the shooting happened. most likely a memorial will be built. today, teachers will be back in the classroom preparing for wednesday. wednesday is when the students come back to school for a partial schedule of classes. ayman. >> i can imagine wednesday will be an emotional day as students reunite for the first time in those classrooms, tammy, thank you very much for joining us. and it has been more than a year since president trump took office. there are growing questions as to why some of his most trusted advisers still do not have security clearances. among them, his son-in-law, jared kushner. kushner has a broad variety of duties, but will he keep his access to the nation's classified secrets? kelly o'donnell has more.

kelly. >> good morning, ayman. there was a notable change at the white house this week and it has to do with the nation's most coveted secrets. it involves employees whose background checks have not been completed or who have not yet this hr permanent security clearance and it happens to include one of the president's the closest advisers. rarely heard in public. >> my name is jared kushner. i am senior adviser to president donald j. trump. >> jared has done an outstanding job. i think he's been treated very unfairly. >> the more inside of insiders. the 37-year-old jared kushner, husband of ivanka trump, does not have permanent high level security clearance. >> there's nothing normal about a senior adviser having an interim clearance for more than

a year. >> rod rosenstein took an unusual step of calling the white house counsel, don mcgahn, in early february to deliver a warning. kushner's background check had hit a serious, but unspecified snag. >> some people described this conversation as a status update. others said it was a houston, we have a problem moment. >> friday, chief of staff john kelly put in place new policy, tightening access to secrets for staffers without permanent clearance. president trump was asked if he would waive the rules for his son-in-law. >> i will let general kelly make that decision. and he's going to do what's right for the country. i have no doubt he'll make the right decision. >> kushner has been interviewed by the special counsel and says he had no improper contacts with russia. as a campaign official, he attended the june 2016 trump tower meeting with the russian lawyer and others. democrats have raised concerns that kushner's vast foreign

business interests pose a conflict. >> if general kelly wants to keep his job, he's probably going to the make the president happy and allow jared kushner to have this clearance. >> aides to kushner would not comment on his security clees clearance. the white house chief of staff put out a statement saying he has full confidence in kushner and he could do his work, things like work on midwest peace and the relationship with mexico. but the white house has not explained if or how he could carry out those responsibilities without the highest level permanent security clearance. ayman. >> at the white house for us, kelly o'donnell. thank you for that. and on friday, president trump spoke at this year's conservative political action conference, better known as cpac. he spoke for about an hour and 14 minutes in a free wheeling speech that harkened back to his days on the 2015 campaign trail. here are a few of the things he had to say. >> by the way, you don't mind if

i go off script a little bit because, you know, it's sort of boring. it's sort of boring. got this beautiful speech, everything is wonderful, but a little boring. i had a couple of characters saying he doesn't really want the wall. he just used that for campaigning. i said, can you believe it? every time i hear that, the wall gets 10 feet higher. you know that. >> so the cpac summit was also the source of some controversy as critics of the trump administration were taken to task. veteran conservative writer and advocate sharon had to be escorted out for her comments. listen to this. >> i'm going to twist this around a bit and say i'm disappointed in people on our side. >> okay. >> for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women in our party who are sitting in the white house who

brag about their extra marital affairs, who brag about mistreating women, and because he happens to have an "r" after his name, we look the other way, we don't complain. this is a party that was ready to endorse the republican party, endorsed roy moore for the senate in the state of alabama, even though he was a credibly accused child molester. you cannot claim that you stand for women and put up with that. >> so just hours after president trump spoke on friday, the communications director for the group behind cpac, ian walters, made a controversial statement about the election of michael steele ago republican chairman in 2009. take a listen. >> we had just elected the first avenue can american president and that was a big deal. and a little bit of cynicism, what do we do? this is a terrible thing. we elected mike steele to be the

rnc chair because he's a black guy. that was the wrong thing to do. >> walters later called steele to apologize. and the following day, the american chair of the conservative union appeared on steele's siriux xm radio show. >> you have been rather critical of some of the more conservative aspects of the trump phenomenon and this trump agenda. >> right. i think what ian was getting to, the heart of that was there are people who are critics of some of the things you did as you were chairman. >> what the hell does my race have to do with any of that at the end of the day? what does the color of my skin have to do with anything you just said? you mean to tell me as a black conservative, put it in that context, i can't be critical of the president? >> you can be, back seat as you know, there are a lot of people -- i can take race out of it. >> yeah. but he's injecting race into it. >> i would agree with you. >> so, again --

>> those words that tumbled out of his mouth, i believed were unfortunate words. >> they were stupid. it's not unfortunate. call it what it is. >> don't take the worst out of what he said. you know him. >> i know, but -- >> this is where you need to have some grace. >> wait a minute, what the hell do i have to be graceful for? >> you've not been very graceful to the republicans and the conservatives in this hall and in this room for a very long period of time. >> coming up, mona chapel and david steele are going to weigh in on this movement. joining us now, steve, lots to faulk about here. let's discuss what we were just talking about at cpac. what's been the reaction, particularly among conservatives to what was said about michael steele at cpac, the subsequent response,lty of heads this morning, probably scratching their heads and wondering what's

going on. >> diversity is important for all political organizations. in 2009, republicans were excited to have a black chairman of the rnc, michael steele. but what this comment implied was this was diversity for diversity sake and that steele didn't do a very good job. of course that's going to upset steele and it's going to stomp on the message that the republican party as a diversion organization. but i think it's important to keep innen context here that this person who spoke was the spokesperson for the american conservative union. that's not a wing of the republican party. this is the organization that throws the cpac gathering every year. but between gatherings, it's not an essential part of the republican party. so i think we need to keep in context just how big of a deal this is. >> i think a lot of people would look at that comment and say this was a racist comment to refer to it. he's saying he was elected because he was a black guy. >> right. it certainly doesn't sound good. it's a matter where you have to

be delicate and this is certainly -- it sounded offensive. it was a personal slight against michael steele. and it definitely steps on the message that the party would like to communicate. >> let's switch gears and talk about jared kushner and the issue of permanent security clearances and the lack thereof. it doesn't look like he's going to get one anytime soon. how big of a political liability is this potentially for the president? when you could have somebody as influential as jared kushner who deals with very important portfolios like the middle east peace process, if he's not getting the intelligence reports about the palestinians, the israelis, how is he going to provide the president with his best advice and counsel when he doesn't have a security clearance? >> rob porter was allegedly beat both of his ex-wives and the white house allegedly knew about it. with jared kushner, we don't know what exactly is holding up the security clearance review. it could be he helped manage a

multibillion dollar company with international connections. if it's something worse than that, if he allegedly has some deeper issue, some scandal lurking, i think that is when it could be a real liability to the white house. >> yeah. we can only guess what that conversation between rod rose.en stein and don mcgahn was like when he told him he's not going to get that clearance anytime soon. stick around. still ahead, bizarre but legal, that's what some experts are calling a newly reported arrangement that has the rnc forki forking thousands of dollars a month to the trump campaign. and later, florida governor rick scott breaks with president trump on one of his most controversial thoughts on school safety.

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welcome back, everyone. the republican national committee has been paying suspensions related to the president's re-election campaign the in a move that is highly

unusual, but legal. the payments began in september according to financial disclosure forms. this was just after the rnc came under pressure to stop paying president trump at his r and his eldest son's legal bills related to special counsel robert mueller's investigation in the russian interference in the 2016 election. the payments include more than $37,000 a month for office space rental and trump tower in new york. party officials have confirmed and thousands of dollars per month for a staff that includes vice president mike pence's nephew, john pence. this is not the first time the rnc has paid trump for use of one of his properties. party committee spent $1.3 million in the first eight months of 20 17. dianne feinstein has failed to win the backing of her state party. the 84-year-old feinstein, seeking her sixth term in

office, received just 37% of the votes from party delegates with her challenger, state senator kevin de leon getting 54%. below fell below the 60% endorsement threshold. while feinstein remains well ahead in endorsements and campaigning, there's a more growing liberal movement within the party. let's get a check off your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. you're tracking some rain in the southern part the of the country, but hopefully the northeast rain will dissipate. >> the whole country needs a break. over the weekend, we had our tornados on saturday. unfortunately we ended our streak with no fatalities. we just got done with the longest stretch in our country with no tornado fatalities. in kentucky and tennessee, about five people died in total this weekend from the flooding and from the tornados. i think we have some pictures of the tennessee damage. ef-1. so it wasn't like a huge really

intense, but you can see it just shattered that home that was sitting there that was significant roof damage below. so it's warm like spring and with it comes severe weather season. it's it's like we just forgot about winter all of a sudden. so a little rain activity, light rain for you in atlanta for your morning commute. it's going to stay mostly south of d.c. down towards richmond. for today's forecast, there's the rainy weather in the southeast. feast, we're hoping to get you some sunshine for the first time in days. where we head to horrible flooding over the weekend, try weather for you in arkansas. here comes the next storm in the middle of the week. this will be a soaking rain event as we go wednesday into thursday. there's that heavy rain in the yellow. a little bit of snow on the back side of this. then this whole mess redevelops into a strong almost nor'easter type storm. you start thinking big snowstorm.

too warm. mostly a rain event for the city. possible snow in the mountains of new england. we have to watch this for coastal flooding. that's going to be a pretty good storm on friday, guys, but we'll talk about that as the week approaches. >> lots to track out there. thanks for that, bill. still ahead, the final report from pyeongchang as the 2018 olympics draw to a close. as students get set to return to class this week, their school's hockey team gives them a big lift. that's next in sports. a doctor. became diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma. i had to put my trust in somebody. we recommended chemotherapy, and then a stem cell transplant. when his disease progressed, i thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy to unleash his immune system against the cancer. i'm back to working hard. i've honestly have never felt this great. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com appointments available now.

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welcome back. time now for sports. starting with the closing ceremony of the 2018 winter olympics, host country south korea used the world stage to promote an optimistic and peaceful future. it included k-pop stars dancing among the 900 cast and crew along with a show forming the mascot of pyeongchang games. but even though the ceremony preached peace and unity, north and south korean athletes wore different uniforms while matching into the stadium together, a departure from the country's opening ceremony. and with the flame extinguished, norway came away with the model most medals with 39, tied with germany in 14 gold medals. for a story of resilience here,

the hockey players at marjory stoneman douglas high school in the aftermath of the shooting that left 17 classmates and teachers dead weighed heavily in their hearts as they made a run to the state title. starting the day as the lowest seeded team in the tournament, stoneman douglas whose players dyed yellow hair in on honor of their fallen classmates were resilient, eventually winning the state championship. >> this wasn't for us. this was for the 17 victims. we played for them. so passionate, so emotional, it's all for them. the players almost didn't hit the ice because of the shooting, but they played for their school. a heart broken school. >> what an incredible story. so happy to see that school get some good news in the wake of everything that has happened there. still ahead, president trump is scheduled to meet with governors from across the country this morning.

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welcome back, everyone. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories for you. we begin in parkland, florida. students at marjory stoneman douglas high school are expected to return to class as early as wednesday following the deadly shooting that took place there less than two weeks ago.

an orientation was held yesterday where students and parents returned to the school for the first time since the attack that killed 17 students and staff members. mean wile, the broward county sheriff's office is investigating why three of its deputies, apparently remained outside the school during the shooting. the news came days after another deputy, scott peterson, resigned following reports that he, too, had not gone inside to confront the shooter. broward county sheriff, scott israel, said the actions of the deputies are under investigation. he also said he would not resign despite the criticisms he and his agencies are facing. tammy, let's start with the president for a moment. we know he's going to meet with the nation's governors today. he said gun violence will be at the top of his agenda. what are we expecting to come out? >> most likely, gun control will dominate the conversation as well as gun violence in america. we know both president trump and

governor rick scott have come out and said that they support discussion of raising the age to 21 and being able to purchase a rifle in america, which is an interesting move considering that governor scott has maintained an a plus rating with the nra. could this put pressure on the nra which is always maintain a hard line that they don't believe that the purchase age of purchasing a rifle should be raised to 21? it's possible. another idea trump has floated is arming a select group of teachers in schools with weapons. now, this is an idea that his own daughter has stopped short of supporting. she spoke with nbc over the weekend and expressed uncertainty as to whether this would actually make the schools any safer. she said, quote, this is not a bad idea, but it'sen an idea that definitely needs to be discussed further. ayman. >> yeah. it seems like it will be an

uphill battle to get any kind of movement on the issue of gun legislature or gun reform. thank you very much. and staying in florida, florida governor rick scott broke with president trump on friday, rejecting trump's proposal to arm teachers in order to prevent school shooting. scott said he would support legislation that would prohibit gun sales to people under the age of 21 and those who are mentally ill or have a violent history. however, republican senator pat toomey said yesterday he is skeptical about raising the age. >> i'm very skeptical about that because the vast majority of 18, 19, 20, 21-year-olds are law-abiding citizens who aren't a threat to anyone. so i'm skeptical about that. i'm willing to the hear the other side on this, but i'm skeptical. >> so while the gop has remained mostly silent on a possible gun

control bill, republican congressman brian mast says he supports an assault weapons ban. he wrote a "new york times" op-ed where he said he would support banning weapons like the ar-15 used in the parkland skoot school shooting. later this morning, congressman mast will join "morning joe" to discuss his support for a ban on assault weapons. >> in the wake of the parkland shooting, a growing number of companies are are severing ties with the national rifle association. united airlines, metlife, and several others are all doing away with discounts and perks for nra members. the nra responded with a statement over the weekend writing in part, quote, some corporations have decided to punish nra membership in a shameful display of political and civic cowardis. the statement went on to say the loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single nra member. switching gears for a movement and back to the white house where president trump says

he will not intervene to get a security clearance for jared kushner. this after deputy attorney general rod rosenstein told white house counsel dawn mcgahn that kushner's clearance would not be coming anytime soon. rosenstein was return ago white house phone call seeking guidance on the status of kushner's and others background investigations. two of the sources said the deputy attorney general told mcgahn that the just department the had obtained new information suggesting it could be an obstacle to kushner's clearance process. one other said rosenstein does not discuss the nature of the ongoing investigation. a week after white house chief of staff john kelly ordered an end to interim clearances that had been pending for months, kus curbing kushner's access, president trump was asked if he would use his influence to grant a waiver. >> we have inherited a system that is broken.

it's taken months and months and months to get many people that do not have the complex complemented financials. and it's still taken months. it's a broken system. and it shouldn't take this long. you know how many people are on that list. people are not a problem in the world. that will be up to general kelly. general kelly respects jared a lot and general kelly will make that call. i won't make that call. i will let the general, who is right here, make that call. >> special counsel bob mueller's probe has object stained a guilty plea from rick gates, the deputy to campaign chairman paul manafort who remained in the campaign and transitioned for months after manafort's ouster. in federal court, gates pleaded guilty to participating in a financial conspiracy to hide money he earned in ewe contain and to lie to federal investigators earlier this month about a 2013 meeting about ukraine that manafort had are a pro russian member of congress.

gates has agreed to cooperate with the probe. manafort responded, i continued to maintain my innocence. i had hoped and expected my business colleague would have had the strength to continue the battle to prove our innocence. for reasons yet to surface, he chose to do otherwise. and on saturday, congress released a ten-page memo for democrats to refute a republican memo that warns to spy on carter page were tainted by politically motivated materials. the response memo argues that the application made, quote, narrow use of the information paid for by democrats and that the work had been commissioned by people, quote, likely looking for information that could be used to discredit the trump campaign. the memo also claims that the surveillance of page allowed the fbi to collect valuable intelligence and that all of the four judges who approved of the warrants were appointed by

republicans. in a statement, page said that the memo is the latest smear campaign by dnc loyalists. president trump said it was a bust and demanded an investigation of, quote, illegal activity alleged in the republican memo. >> a lot of bad things happened on the other side. not on this side, but on the other side. >> and you know what is interesting -- >> somebody should look into it because what they did is really fraudulent and somebody should be looking into that. and by somebody, i'm talking about you know who. >> i have a feeling i know who it is, mr. president. >> back with us in washington, d.c., white house reporter for the washington examiner, steve nelson. steve, good to have you back with us. let's talk blths bit about this memo if we can. there are now questions as to whether the release of that memo in the wake of the republican memo has changed anything beyond the further divide between the democrats and the republicans and even the accusation that the house intelligence committee has now become hyper partisan.

>> well, of course this memo was just dumped on saturday without apparently much notice to the democrats who wrote it. so it's a punch that's been muted by that. it is interesting that we're continuing to learn more details. we've learned now that the length of this initial application regarding carter page was longer than 50 pages. we have learned the exact date that the russia investigation started. these are details in the public interest. but certainly the house intelligence committee has become hyper partisan. that's just not in dispute. and it's going to be interesting going forward how that plays out abuse traditionally, it's been almost above politics. when edward snowden released claims about surveillance abuse, the intelligence committee members were in lock step with each other saying, to, we do very careful oversight. you should trust us. we are on top of this.

so it will be interesting to see how their lack of credibility plays out going forward. >> yeah. it's a very good comparison between what happened with edward snowden and what is happening now. let's switch gears for the a moment and go back to what has erupted in the wake of the parkland school shooting. we continue to see these young survivors take to the air waves calling out elected officials over gun control reform. have they taken lawmakers by surprise? and do you anticipate that we're actually going to hear prosecute them as we head into the midterm elections? could this be an issue in the midterm elections that no one was particularly prepared for? >> i don't know. i agree, though, that it does seem remarkable how many well spoken students they have who are great on television and very effective at social media. communicating their points the of view regarding gun control. we're certainly going to be hearing about this for another month when at the end of march there are large protests planned, apparently organizers are thinking half a million

people could show up in d.c. and that, of course, will keep the issue alive for longer. i don't know that it's going to be a major midterm election issue. it could be certainly in some localities, in florida, for example. but certainly we're going to be hearing this for at least another month. >> yeah. we're going to have to wait and see how it all plays out in the coming months. ahead, steve nelson live in washington. thanks, steve. still ahead, after a sexual harassment scandal, a last intent to save the harvey weinstein company fails. plus, heavy rains cause major flooding in part of the midwest and more rain is in the forecast. for some already water logged cities. full check on weather when we come right back. stay with us.

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the midwest with at least five different tornados ripping through parts of tennessee, missouri and kentucky. a funnel cloud spotted in southwest kentucky and in hopkinsville, powerful storms tore roof off buildings. this home was flattened. in arkansas, strong winds ripped apart this hotel in osceola. the next town over, kaiser, lost part of its roof. these two houses suffer similar fates. in ohio, winds uprooted trees, damaging buildings and cars. residents in louisville still face severe flooding with homes and roads submerged. the city's fire division responding to more than 100 rescue calls. communities surveying the devastation coming together to recover. >> let's get a big picture on the weather forecast across the

country with nbc meteorologist bill karins. how is it looking? >> a little calmer to start our workweek than what we saw this weekend. the river, all of those were still very high. so we need the warm pattern, but we need it to be dry and warm. you know, to help dry things out. and it's going to stay mild this week. it's not going to feel like the end of february at all. temperatures the today, 65 in little rock. new orleans at 74. 84 in jacksonville, florida. it's too early. all the snowbirds are saying, it's too warm. 55 in new york city is pretty nice. the sun will come out eventually in areas of the northeast. it's been like three days in new york with clouds. d.c., warmer. 70 in nashville on tuesday. there's to signs of any cold air coming. as we head into march, wilmington, north carolina, 76 on this thursday. there's nothing too chilly. today's forecast, we have the rain with us this morning along i-10. that will head through pensacola

shortly. foggy around the mid-atlantic. especially d.c. look at dallas, 67. st. louis at 59. after a couple of snowy days in the last four or five, minneapolis at 39, you're going to start to melt some of that snow. here is a look at the rain throughout the southeast. steady, heavy rain, mobile to montgomery. a light, dreary rain from roanoke to raleigh, charlotte, virginia beach to richmond. throughout the afternoon hours, this will begin to exit and head out a little bit. it will begin to clear out somewhat and we could use it. as we go throughout the workweek, again, the areas of greatest concern are going to be in the southeast. then as we go throughout the week into areas of the mid-atlantic, yet the nor'easter, if we do get it, looks to be mostly a rain event towards the end of this week. and i think, you know, i was looking at the calendar and the problem is we had the full moon coming as we go throughout march 1st. that's thursday night. then we're going to have the high tide cycle on the east coast. we don't know exactly who is going to get the worst of this storm, but it does look like we

are going to see thursday, friday on the east coast. if you have travel plans at the airports wieb airports, it's going to be rainy and windy, too. just when i thought you were going to give us good weather -- >> march isn't like that. latch, you get two nice days and then punished, eventually nice will win out. let's turn to business. the weinstein company is facing fallout. they have filed bankruptcy. >> lewis, they haven't actually declared bankruptcy yet, but they could be declaring it imminently after talks with a buyer have collapsed. this is a company that has been reeling from significant losses. much partners such as netflix have pulled projects from the company and mr. weinstein himself has been ousted from the

board and is also under police investigation in both the u.s. and the uk. >> elsewhere, some airlines news for you, the chicago mayor and chicago airline carriers are in the final stage of negotiating an $8.5 billion rebound of chicago's o'hare international airport. it is one of the busiest airports in the world, but it has traditionally lagged in the category of international passengers. so the plan is to revamp the airports with dozens of new gates, wider concourses and more international flights. so good news for the jet setters like yourself louis. >> thank you. dunkin donuts has teamed up with the girl scouts the. what can you tell us about the flavors? >> very exciting news. the new collaboration comes in three flavors, thin mints, coconut caramel, is .my favorite, peanut butter cookie where the company itself has

created its first ever flavor of mouth watering peanut butter. you can add these flavors to your coffees, whether hot or cold as of today. they will be available in stores until may. back to you. >> all right, all the flavors, all the inside information. thank you so much. >> i'm not sure about the peanut butter flavored coveree. that may be a tough sell for me. still ahead, new details about president trump's proposed military parade. plus, a rare possible step towards diplomacy. north korea holds a willingness to hold talks with the united states. we're going to get the very latest on that. stay with us.

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>> well, i would like to have a parade. a lot of the generals would like to have a parade to celebrate what we're doing. it would be up and down pennsylvania avenue. a lot of it would be fly-overs. frankly, i think it's great for spirit. the military loves it. they love the idea. would have our west point and annapolis and the air force academy, coast guard academy and

would have just -- it would be a great representative parade. we would have a lot of plane fly-overs. it would be something great for the spirit of the country. we'll see if we can do it at a reasonable cost. if we can't, we won't do it. the generals would love to do it and so would i. >> a lot of fly-overs. so north korea is willing to hold talks with the united states in order to resolve tensions on the korean peninsula. the revelation came during a meeting south korean president moon jae-in had with several high-ranking north korean officials at the end of the winter olympics. president moon also told the north koreans that talks between the u.s. and north korea, quote, must be held at the soonest, according to moon's office. now, interestingly, one of the officials moon met with was kim yong-chol. he was suspected of being the master mind behind the attacks on a naval ship back in 2010 that killed dozens of sailers and several civilians.

north korea has expectedly condemned the latest round of u.s. sanctions, adding that the new plan reportedly by the u.s. and its allies to widen the crackdown on ships suspected of violating sanctions would be considered, quote, an act of war. now, curiously it was the president's daughter and adviser ivanka who briefed president moon on the sanctions despite prevailing questions on her own security clearance status and her background in korean diplomacy. >> first let me say, ivanka trump has been briefed on this. she's been part of the team. she had dinner with president moon. they had a private discussion in advance about this occurring. this has been an interagency process. >> secretary, you said that by going to a little more detail about ivanka briefing the south korean president. does she have the proper security clearance to been able to know what these things were and brief the south korean president? >> yeah. she has the appropriate access

to brief the president moon. china's ruling party are paving the way for xi jinping to stay in power indefinitely past the end of his second term in 2023. currently the communist party has limits of two consecutive terms. the change is expected to be ratified by china's parliament during its annual session next month. during china's congress last october, xi jinping thought was added to the party's constitution elevating him to the same level as past and enshrining his theories into the party's constitution. long-time conservative mona sws charen and michael steele are here to talk about cpac this past weekend. and jim hines and mike quigley join us rebutting allegations made by republicans. and senate minority whip dick durbin will also be a guest this

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welcome back, everyone. before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a quick check on the stories we'll hear about in the day ahead. after a ten-daybreak, members of congress are returning to work today. lawmakers are under a lot of pressure to respond to the public outcry over gun reform. president trump is expected to discuss the deadly parkland shooting with governors from across the country during meetings that will take place today at the white house this morning. he said yesterday that it will be the first topic on his list. also happening today, members of the public will get a chance to pay their final respects to the reverend billy graham. his body will lie in repose inside the graham family home place in charlotte, north carolina today and tomorrow. and on wednesday and thursday, graham's body will lie in honor in the u.s. capital rotunda in washington, d.c. before returning to charlotte for the funeral on friday. guys, that does it for us on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. we have a very crooked

media. we had a crooked candidate by the way, too. >> lock her up! lock her up! lock her up! lock her up! >> i will say this, folks, everything that's turning out now it's amazing that's come full circle. boy have they committed a lot of atrocities when you look. >> okay. at cpac the prospect of jailing political opponents was cheered while a real discussion on sexual harassment was booed. welcome to "morning joe." it's monday. >> michael steele. >> oh my god, what -- well, that's coming up, too. >> you guys said something racist about me. yeah, but you were critical of donald trump. >> don't look at the negative. okay? >> veteran columnist and analyst msnbc contributor mike barnacle joins us. politica